If you're working with, or planning to work with, an ad network, here are 10 things they must be able to do to help you optimize your ad campaigns.

1. The
NetworkEffect Working With a Network to Optimize Ads and Maximize Results
10 Steps Every Network Must Employ to Drive Stellar Ad Performance

2. How did the campaign do, and can we do better?
If you’ve spent even a week in the advertising world, chances are you’ve
heard this question. For this reason, advertisers have looked to ad networks
to help them drive better results and optimize their campaigns.
Optimization plays a critical role in today’s advertising strategy. Since the
online world is always changing, it's important to periodically evaluate each
ad campaign and make tweaks that will help keep it running effectively.
Depending on your goals and the type of changes you make, optimization
can have a major impact on several aspects of the performance of a
campaign; from driving more clicks to your website to lowering overall media
costs.
Ad networks have played a crucial role in identifying optimization opportunities
and helping advertisers meet their performance goals. Choosing the right
network based on your needs is critical to the success of your campaign.
Below are 10 vital steps that any good network should be able to do to help
you answer the question above with, “yes, we can do better!”
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Choosing the correct ad server allows a network to
set up a campaign properly and optimize according
to specific campaign metrics pulled by placement
and creative and according to delivery, interaction,
conversion data and site delivery. Proper set up of
the ad server also allows a network to recognize the correct
channels to use and the most efficient outlets in order to
maximize the target goals: CPA, CPC or CTR.
Did you know? The first ad server was introduced on July 17, 1995*.
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By placing pixels on publishers, a network
is able to accurately track the kinds of users
that frequent a site. This allows an operations
team to target a specific audience more
effectively. Data collected through the use of publisher pixels
allows a network to establish audience patterns and specific
audience segments which can be catered to an advertiser’s
needs and goals. The right ad is delivered at the right time to
the right audience.
Did you know? There are at least a trillion Web pages in existence, which means
the internet’s collective brain has more neurons than the average human**.
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By placing pixels on landing pages and conversion
pages, networks can help an advertiser identify its
most receptive customers; this affords the ad server
a chance to minimize wasted impressions on
uninterested users, while serving impressions more
effectively to relevant users who have expressed an
interest in a particular product or service. Conversion pixels placed on
multiple “steps” in the conversion help the advertiser identify the
purchase intent of users in the conversion process and effectiveness
of the conversion process. (i.e. Are there too many steps and are people
quitting too early in the process? Are users exiting the conversion process
too early?)
Quick Tip: Landing pages are often linked to from social media, email campaigns or search
engine marketing campaigns in order to enhance the effectiveness of the advertisements.
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Targeting cookies can be placed on a user’s browser
as soon as he or she visits a page on the network.
The cookie data contains a user’s behaviors on that
site and his or her shopping intent/interests based off
of tracked site behavior. Audiences exhibiting certain
types of behaviors such as shopping for beauty
products, can be placed in targeting segments which allow an ad server to
find that same unique user anywhere on a network. Behavioral targeting
allows the advertiser to target any specific audience on a network which
most of the time renders increased performance metrics due to the
“in-market” types of behaviors.
Did You Know? 41 percent of consumers became more comfortable and were 27 percent more
willing to receive targeted, relevant ads in exchange for free content. ***
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5. 5
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Daily interaction between multiple teams on both the
network and advertiser side provides the maximum
attention needed to monitor an advertiser’s campaigns.
Constant optimization tweaks are evaluated on their
effectiveness. Clients work with Sales who work with
Account Managers who work with Traffickers on
advertiser needs. Effective communication from the top down helps
everyone stay on top of advertiser goals and work to constantly increase
performance metrics.
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If you want to know how someone thinks or feels, why
not just ask them? Surveys can be a great way to
understand the value of your brand message on certain
audiences. Asking just one simple question can help
gauge how effective a potential ad campaign can
perform. Aside from identifying the audience, surveys
can also measure how much brand lift a campaign is getting for a live
campaign. Working with the advertisers to identify key questions and
competitors, a network can create a series of surveys that can provide
valuable insight.
Quick Tip: A combination of data collection, audience modeling, and surveys can provide
keen insight into the most receptive buying audience.
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6. 7
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By working with a network, an advertiser can gain
reporting insights into how a campaign is performing, as
well as receive granular metrics and information about
the campaign. By hitting a larger audience on a network,
more information can be gathered and reported. Due to
this larger audience, an advertiser is able to choose to
target specific audiences based off of geography and
demographic data, depending on the advertiser’s needs. Impressions can
be moved around to the regions or target audiences that have yielded the
best results. The ability of a network to hit these granular audiences in
volume is what makes a network valuable.
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A network’s Operations team can identify similar
campaigns that have run in the past in order to
effectively and properly set up future campaigns with
comparable targeting and revenue goals. This ensures
that a network can start off on the right foot with their
advertisers and start performing right out of the gate.
Instead of starting every campaign like a new campaign,
Operations can look at past successes involved with targeting, channels
and creative units. By continuously looking at these past successes, a
network will be able to ensure that similar campaigns can be equally
successful.
Did You Know? 81% of agencies use ad networks to place digital ads****
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7. 9
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By offering the correct buying strategy for an advertiser,
a network is able to maximize the effectiveness of an
advertiser’s buying power. A network can better advise
on best practices and buying strategies based off historic
data and similar campaigns, which will in turn yield a better
performance result. For example, a branding and awareness
campaign will need to be run and set up differently than a direct response
campaign; reasons for this are due to the fact that the needs for these
campaigns are completely different. Proper buying strategies ensure that
both parties are satisfied throughout the life of the campaign.
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Custom ad units and high-impact creative
allow a network to perform better than networks
that can only serve standard banner ads. CTR
and interaction on these types of units is higher
than standard units and is always pushing what
level of engagement an advertiser can offer an
audience. Operations teams can help to identify strengths and weaknesses
in an advertiser’s high-impact creative campaign and work collaboratively to
create the most effective creative.
Did you know? The IAB’s Portrait is a premium ad unit that is noticed 2x as fast and is viewed
4x more often and 4x longer than standard banners*****
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8. About Martini Media
Martini Media is the platform for engaging people with the most
influence and money online. Martini allows advertisers to build
campaigns influence-first by scaling niche sites—the places these
people prioritize because they cater to their passions—into an audience
of more than 120 million. Martini provides a publisher network of 1,000+
sites in lifestyle and business with revenue support encompassing Web,
video, mobile, email, social and data. For more than 270 premium
advertising clients, Martini combines proprietary audience targeting
and tracking with full-service marketing support.
*Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_server
**Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired Magazine, 9/11
***PreferenceCentral on Consumer Attitudes Towards Behavioral targeting, 7/10
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****Strata, Survey of Media Biying Companies, 10/10
*****Evolution of Digital Branding, IPG Media Lab w/Affectiva, Dynamic Logic, & AOL, 6/11